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Search Warrant Reveals More on Feds' Suspicions

Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones handed reporters copies of the search warrant served on the county administration building Monday. It sheds more light on what federal investigators hope to uncover. Ideastream's Bill rice has more.

The warrant called for an exhaustive search for records pertaining to County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, everything from personal income, finance and tax documents to correspondence, campaign donor lists, and documented involvement with county projects, contractors and personnel. Many items on the list clearly indicate the feds' suspicions. Number 7, for instance, called for rounding up documents that show employees conducted personal business during normal working hours - either for themselves, or Dimora, or the democratic party. Number 9: documents reflecting Dimora's awareness of policies on hiring, promotion, outside employment, lobbying and ethics. Number 12: documents relating to an effort to influence judicial proceedings. Taken together, they point to suspicion that for Dimora the line between doing the public's business and furthering his own political and personal ends - and those of his friends - is routinely blurred.

The warrant was only one of ten executed Monday by the FBI. It was released to the press by Commissioner Jones as he pledged open and transparent cooperation with investigators. None of the other warrants have been made public.

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